>>COMING UP

THE UTOPIAN IMPULSE // BEN LLWYD

<sub>The Wow of the Here and Now.
The Utopian Impulse’ invites audiences to rediscover their psychic connection to nature and to experience alternative consciousness through creativity. This exhibition challenges the notion of utopia as a distant dream, suggesting instead that paradise is accessible here and now.  The perennial positioning of utopia in the forever delayed future or on some distant unreachable shore is a false narrative that helps to manufacture consent. An aim of the project is to help us wake up from this false consciousness and see, that we’ve always been here in time and space, indivisibly here, utopia is here and now.
Artists Dorry Spikes and Danny May, during their residency in St Davids Valley, engaged in an updated form of en plein air, capturing the psychological and emotional depth of reconnecting with nature. Supported by specially constructed ‘Experimental Stations’ by Ben Llwyd, the artists could immerse themselves in the landscape, producing works that blend personal vision with the natural environment.


The exhitbition features a short film ‘There is really here’, a sci-fi art film devised and directed by Ben Llwyd and produced and directed by Kay Czuba, explores utopian themes through a narrative inspired by the novel "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Shot on the summer solstice, the film stars Mabli Jên Eustace, features a voiceover by Jerome Flynn, and has been described as, “entrancing and thought-provoking.”


Artist Background
Ben Llwyd, a contemporary artist and lecturer based near St Davids, has dedicated over a decade to exploring utopias in his work. With exhibitions across the UK, including Chapter in Cardiff and The British Museum, his projects such as ‘Gwales’, ‘The Road to New York’, and ‘Empire Kiosk’, consistently interrogate notions of idealised societies and communal migrations.

The Utopian Impulse runs at D-Unit, Bristol, and promises an immersive experience for those who wish to explore the possibility of utopia within the everyday. Supported by the Arts Council of Wales.</sub>